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Traveller interview: Francesca Kitto-Jones , on her Jordan small group holiday

Chatting with Responsible Travel writer, Catherine Mack.

Francesca Kitto-Jones had a last minute, spontaneous need to get out into the desert and joined a small group tour going to Jordan in September. She had never been to the desert before, and she wasn’t disappointed. She shares some of her stories and tips in a chat with one of our travel writers, Catherine Mack

I had never been to the Middle East before and it is going to sound ridiculous, but I just wanted to see a proper desert! I have done a lot of stuff, sailing and other stuff on water. I ski, so I have spent time in the mountains. And I have seen beaches of course, but I have never seen a proper inland desert. I have been to the US and flown over the Grand Canyon and things, but I wanted to see proper, remote, sandy desert.

Absolutely! It completely took my breath away. I was literally ‘deep intake of breath’ when I saw it; I was properly wowed by it. I had driven down the King’s Highway from Amman, and been in a 4X4 for four hours, got to this hill, drove up it and then the driver said, ‘OK, what you are seeing now in front of you is Wadi Rum’, and it was just spectacular. Just a vast, vast, as far as the eye could see, expanse of sand, rock and looked like it was almost not of this earth. I was properly blown away by it, actually.


Eleven of us, 12 including our guide Amer, which was just perfect. As a group we got on like a house on fire, and had giggles when we were in our little minibus, had good fun banter, although we were quite different in ages, backgrounds and experiences. But we just all gelled really well. Our tour guide, who had studied English to Masters Degree level, was amazing. His sensibility about the English language was marvellous. He had such a good turn of phrase, knew a lot of the nuances and idioms of the English language and it really made a difference. So when we were having quick fire banter, he was in there with us! It was lovely.

Not at all, it was a pretty last minute decision to go there to be fair. I did have a quick look at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice, but I think that was after I had booked it! I know it is a moderate country, and you never really hear bad things coming from there. A lot of people have asked me the same question, but security didn’t really cross my mind at all.

I wish I had packed my flip flops. I had my walking boots and some trainers, but when we went to the Dead Sea resort I really needed some flip flops to get from the changing room down to the Dead Sea. I ended up wearing my trainers and they got covered in mud and all kinds of stuff. So something slip on would have been handy. What I did do in terms of packing this time, as I had brought a rucksack, was to bring lots of little individual packs, with t-shirts in one, underwear in another, and so on. So when I pulled something out of my bag I didn’t just shower them all over the room. I found that really useful.

I am not a huge souvenir buyer, but I did get a couple of small dishes, and of course I got a fridge magnet because you’ve got to have one of those! We did go to a centre in Madaba where they produce lots of mosaic items, and the people they employ have special needs of some sort. They sell lots of handmade crafts from hand woven silk rugs furniture and little dipping dishes like I bought.


I think that because I hadn’t given myself that long to think about it, it felt as if I had gone without any preconceptions at all. Everything I had seen on the news about Jordan was about the millions of refugees who have come across their border. And also because I know that Amman is a pretty wealthy city, I thought that it would be a country of opposites. Which it is, but I didn’t have major expectations really.

Not a great question to ask me, because I’m not a great sleeper at the best of times! But, I do have to say that the desert was probably the best sleep. Just because it is so beautifully quiet, and I know that would disarm a lot of people, but I quite like quiet and dark. And clean air – that was gorgeous. We were sleeping in a Bedouin tent which was nice actually. I don’t know what I expected, something from Lawrence of Arabia probably, with great flapping sheets of cotton and silk floating around the place! But they are substantial, heavy hessian canvas, and with a fairly solid floor, so less tent like than I was expecting.

I had one with me but I didn’t really need it. I like to be covered up when I sleep, but most people didn’t use their sleeping bags at all. I guess if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have packed it and made a bit more space in my rucksack. But still, I was glad I had it with me.

I’m a bit of a picky eater, and so when I go away anywhere, I am always a bit concerned that there is going to be something I can eat. Also I don’t eat meat, and I didn’t know what sort of diet they had, but actually I was more than well catered for. The vegetarian food was very nice, and on a couple of occasions I had really beautiful seafood. I know all the other people in the group loved the meat they had too, so no problems there.

Oh, and beyond! I had no idea how vast it was even though I read up on it before I went. It is so impressive. And of course we were rather spoilt, because although it is terribly sad for the country that tourism has fallen recently, for us it meant that we had loads of space to enjoy Petra.


I guess the desert, but probably because I was so overwhelmed by it generally, and it is hard to say what it smells of. But just super hot air. You are constantly dripping with sweat, so it is pretty revolting really! There is a bit of a breeze so it is a bit like standing in front of a hairdryer. In September it didn’t get that cold at night, as I know that happens in the desert. Even in the wee small hours of the morning, it was still nice.

We met our tour guide’s wife and son, which was lovely. He also arranged for us to have dinner at the house of a Bedouin lady, whose family were from the tribe that used to live inside Petra. Obviously they are now settled elsewhere. She lives with her elderly aunt and some children who weren’t hers, but whom she had taken into her home. She did an amazing spread for us and a delicious vegetarian meal for me too. With lentil soup for start, and then rice with goat and camel milk sauce which is a traditional dish. I had read a lot about the traditional Arab welcome that you get in Jordan and it was certainly true of this lady, and indeed from everyone we met.

Probably one that I took of the desert that I use as my cover photo on Facebook now. It really is just an expanse of red sand, and huge boulders rearing up out of the ground. So because that is what took my breath away first of all, that is the image that is always going to stay with me.

Yes, it has made me think that I would like to go to more places that are a bit more unusual. As opposed to the standard ‘I’m going skiing in winter and sailing in summer’. I definitely want to do something a bit different again. So, I guess that this trip to Jordan has made me braver in my holiday choices. I haven’t ever had a big need to travel really far from home, but now I would love to go somewhere like the Falklands and Antarctica, but it’s a bit out of my price range! I’ve been a bit boring with my travel destinations and so with a combination of having experienced a very different culture, but also just where I am in my life, I think I am ready to take another step out of Europe. I also liked the fact that I didn’t think about it too much before booking, so I didn’t have time to get scared, so that was good. I must do more of that in the future!

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